DEIVATHIN KURAL # 71 (Vol # 7) Dated 28 Nov 2013

DEIVATHIN KURAL # 71 (Vol # 7) Dated 28 Nov 2013

(These e-mails are translations of talks given by PeriyavãL of Kanchi Kaamakoti Peetam, over a period of some 60 years while he was the pontiff in the earlier part of the last century. These have been published by Vanadi Padippagam, Chennai, in seven volumes of a thousand pages each as Deivathin Kural. Today we are going ahead from the last paragraph on page No 549 of Volume 7 of the Tamil original. The readers may note that herein ‘man/he’ includes ‘woman/she’ too mostly. These e-mails are all available at   http://Advaitham.blogspot.com updated continually)

Relatives of the Matam

30.           Another additional credit for Thillai ViLãgam is the fact that there is a temple in honour of Avvai Pãtti, the Tamil Pãtti nearby.  Four miles south of Thillai ViLãgam is the Karpanãr Kovil.  Nearby is a place known as Tulja Pãttinam, in the name of the royal family of Tuljaji from Maharashtra who ruled over Tanjavur.  It is here that there is a temple for Avvai Pãtti who had said that it is very good to worship in a temple, I Quote, 'ãlayam thozhuvadu sãlavum nanru' – 'ஆலயம் தொழுவது சாலவும் நன்று'!  Around 1940 when the Kumbha Abhishekam of the temple Karpanãr Kovil was done, this temple for Avvaiyar also became famous, with experts in the study of Tamil language scheduling a meeting there periodically. 

31.          If you go further south some four miles there is a clear tapering of the land East-West, so that till VedaraNyam the sea is in the East and after that suddenly for a good seventy miles or so, the sea is in the South!  Due to some natural geographical arrangement the salt in the sea gets accumulated over a spread of some two miles in north-south direction and some 30 miles in the east-west direction. Before our independence from the Britishers, during Salt-Satyagraha when people agitated against the taxation on salt, it was here under the leadership of Raja Gopala Ãchãryãr near VedaraNyam, in this general area only.  So, very near to Tamil Pãtti's place was also this place of VedaraNyam meaning a forest of Rik, Yajur, Sama and Atharvana Vedas.  This is yet another proof of the fact that Tamil and Sanskrit have gone hand in hand in this part of the country.  It is this desire that makes me claim anybody who reminds us of Chandra Mouleeswara by even just mentioning 'Ãthichchoodi', to claim them to be the close relatives of the Matam! 

Kamban and Sri Matam

32.          Similarly even Kamban the author of Ramayana in Tamil known as 'Kavi Chakravarty' – 'கவி சக்ரவர்தி', meaning an emperor amongst poets, is also closely related to Kanchipuram Matam.  One gentleman by the name of Vasishta Bhãrathi, old enough to be referred as another Tamizh Thatha, has carried out much investigation and identified that Kamban was born and brought up here in Kanchipuram.  Kamban is referred as 'Kamba Nãdar' or Kamba Nãttãzhvãr.  He had lived and stayed in a place known as Therazhundur in SoNãdu, but did not belong to that place and evidently was referred to by mentioning his place of origin as is the prevailing custom.   On further investigation and analysis, it is found that this name 'Kamba Nãdan' evolves from the name of the presiding deity in this place known as 'Ekamba Nathan'.  Also, because the river that flows here is called the Kambã River, such a name for the place could have evolved.  So this Tamizh Thatha Vasishta Bhãrathi was quite clear in his deduction that Kamban as a poet was referred to by the name of the place of his origin, as different from the place name where he had gone and settled.

33.          I have a little more masala for embellishing the point, though the connection to Kanchipuram is enough to establish the relationship between Kamban and the Matam.  Within three miles of Kanchipuram there is a village named Ambi.  Like the Pulavar Cheri in the southern tip on India, this is also a village forever assigned to the Matam by one Telugu King Vijayakanda Gopalan, a Sozha king.  This village given to the Matam as an eternal sanction for which there is a copper Plate etched with these details as a Sãsanam.  In it the full name of Ambi is given as Ambikapuram.  There is a temple the Siva Perumãn in that place called Ambikapathi Easwara.  Though Kambar is eulogized as one of the star devotees of the VaishNava Sampradaya, and he has sung 'Sadagopar Andãdi' about Nammãzhvãr, he had the vision of equality for all Gods, adoring Easwara as much as Maha Vishnu.  So evidently he had named his son in the name of the Presiding Deity of his village as Ambikapathi.  The time of Kamban is approximately almost the same as the time of the Sãsanam assigning the village to the Matam in 1111 A.D.  So there is scope for assuming that he was possibly involved with the Matam and would have been a true devotee of Sankara ÃchãryãL also.

34.          Looking at it from the view of philosophical stand points too, there is a close parallel in the similarity of expressions as done by our ÃchãryãL and Kamban.  You have noted I am sure that our ÃchãryãL has described that the basic truth of Brhmam is seen through Maya as the whole world of appearances.  If by the dim light a rope is seen as a snake, with the enlightenment of Gnãna the snake disappears and only the rope remains.  The appearance of the snake was only imagined while rope is the basis or Ãdhãra for reality.  Similarly the world is imagined and the Brhmam is the basic Satya or reality.  The expansion and enlargement as the five Bhootas of Space, air, fire, water and earth are all entities of imagination which will all merge in the only basic reality, as has been explained by our ÃchãryãL.  Kamban has said the same thing and has said that the inner back-ground truth of reality is end of all that is hidden and unseen as 'Marai' – 'மறை', which is also a synonym for all Vedas!  I am quoting the prayer song as given at the start of Sundara Kãndam: -

அலங்கலில் தோன்றும் பொய்ம்மை

alangalil tonrum poimai

அரவென பூதம் ஐந்தும்

aravena bhootam aindum

விளங்கிய விகாரப்பாட்டின்

 viLangiya vigãrappãttin

வேறுபாடு உற்ற வீக்கம்

verupaadu urtra veekkam

கலங்குவது எவரைக்கண்டால்

kalanguvadu evaraikkandãl

அவரென்பர் கைவில் ஏந்தி

avarenbar kaivilendi

இலங்கையில் போருதாரன்றே

ilangayil porudãranre

மறைகளுக்கு இறுதியாவார்

maragaLukku irudiyãvãr. 

35.          He says that the end Ãdhãra basis is Sri Rama who fought in Sri Lanka.  Such a quintessential Adwaitam being spoken by Kamban virtually seals the bonds of friendship and relationship with this Matam eternally!  By this Ambikapathi story another Tamil Pãtti becomes our relation.  The girl, the princess of the Sozha Dynasty of that period, whom Ambikapathi loved and who responded positively to his love, is that Tamil Pãtti, because the song aka Pãttu was addressed to her!  That song was powerful enough to earn the royal wrath for him to be beheaded in response to which the princess, the heroine to whom that song was addressed, not wishing to continue living when her lover is gone, sacrificed her life too instantly.

Another Pãtti with a Connexion to Kãmãkshi

36.          We have seen a variety of Tamil Pãtti aka grannies during this talk.  We have seen so many varieties that it is mind boggling just to review!  They are deserving the title as 'Pãtti' for having been poets themselves or for the poems addressed at them; Avvai Pãtti who opted for old age even as a young and nubile maiden as the great teacher of morals for the young children of the Tamil world including the generations of children yet to be in the future, as the 'Kanni Pãtti' to mean that she never attained to even adolescence let alone became old really.  Then there is the queen of Tanjakkoor because she loved Tamil songs aka Pãttu were submitted to her that, though she was young she was called a Tamil Sumangali Pãtti.  Then the engineer's wife as the Deerga Sumangali of Thillai ViLãgam Pãtti, who got the Temple for Sri Rama constructed there.  Then finally as the person to whom the poem of love was addressed to as the 'pãttudait thalaivi' – 'பாட்டுடைத் தலைவி', the princess of Sozha Dynasty for whom Ambikapathi, the son of Kamban, wrote that song for which he was beheaded and she also sacrificed her life!  Thus I have included and virtually roped in many, all of them deserving to be called as 'Tamil Pãtti'. 

37.          Instead of finishing on that sad note of unconsummated love, let me talk about one more Pãtti.  That is, a Pãtti, who is directly related to the Kãmãkshi, Maha Tripura Sundari who is the Shakti aka power behind Chandra Mouleeswara.  This lady had lived during the 'Sanga Kãlam', a period of an eerie past of the Tamil literature.  Her songs have been included in poetical collections such as 'Aga Nãnooru', 'Pura Nãnooru', 'NartriNai' and such classic literature.  She has put into words the extreme state of being animated by divine aspirations; that she has an adjective to her name as the one who has sung such maniacal songs 'veri ãdal' – 'வெறியாடல்'.  Since she has sung about that subject, she has been referred to as 'veri pãdiya' – 'வெறி பாடிய' as an adjective to her name!

38.          In the ancient times 'Kãmãkshi Amman' is supposed to have been very violently ferocious, that she was known as 'Veri-Kãmãkshi' or 'Pei-Kãmãkshi'.  That is, she is so immeasurably and extremely powerful, as blinding our eyes and benumbing our senses, by the very intensity!   It is said that only our ÃchãryãL had pacified her by means of Mantra and Yantra, subduing the apparent intensity in to the Yantra installed in their presence.  Not only indirectly but also directly this 'வெறி பாடிய' Pãtti, was very much connected to our Kãmãkshi Amman in that, her name in Tamil as given to her by her parents was 'kãmakkaNNiyãr' – 'காமக்கண்ணியார்', which means the same as Kãmãkshi!

(To be continued with a new chapter.)

Sambhomahadeva